英検1級2次試験：Is it acceptable to treat water as a private commodity?

Is it acceptable to treat water as a private commodity?

(水道水を私的な商品として扱うことは許されるか？)

試験まで残り24日

I disagree with the view that it is acceptable to treat water as a private commodity.

I have two reasons to support my opinion.

First, it would lead to much higher water charge. One of the causes of this is that water suppliers don’t have competition with other companies. This means that water suppliers may make a decision to raise the price of water so much to make large amounts of profits after the privatization. If this does happen, then people in dire poverty wouldn’t have an access to drinking water, leading to serious diseases or even deaths.

Second, it would lower the quality of water. Because of the super-aging society and low birthrate, population of Japan is estimated to decrease dramatically. This is one of the signs that the revenue for water suppliers would decrease in the future. Under the circumstance, they can’t afford to hire more numbers of workers. So, the number of employees with technical expertise would diminish, contributing to lower quality of water.

From these reasons, I don’t think that treating water as a private commodity is a good idea. (184 words)

【内容の要約】

結論：Disagree

①水道料金の高騰

②水質の悪化

以前投稿した、「政府はほとんどの公共サービスを提供すべきか？」に類似していますね。

bayashi-studyroom.hatenablog.com

今回のトピックは、水道民営化の是非について問われているものになります。上記の記事とは真逆の立場(=水道民営化反対)で書いてみました。